


Contraindication

by AuroraNova



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 23:14:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18670318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraNova/pseuds/AuroraNova
Summary: Miles clues Julian in to how Cardassians flirt, and promptly wishes he hadn't.Plus, the author announces a Garak/Bashir fan event.





	Contraindication

**Author's Note:**

> First up, the fan event. I hope you'll join us for Deadly Sins, a G/B fan fest of the relaxed, low-stress variety. Check out all the details [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Deadly_Sins_Garak_Bashir_Fan_Fest/profile). The collection will open June 1st, and you have through June 31st to post on the theme Deadly Sins. It should be a lot of fun, whether you've previously written lots of fanfic or none at all.

Miles met Julian waiting for the turbolift to Ops, where the doctor had his nose buried in a padd. Feeling a certain obligation, he reluctantly brought up Garak. “Dax said Garak was arguing with you at lunch yesterday.”

“Yes,” said Julian, interested enough to look up from his padd. “It was my day off, and we ended up debating _The Odyssey_ and related subjects for two hours."

“Two hours? You argued for two hours?” If Gilora Rejal was anything to go by, Julian could expect Garak to bring up kids any day now. Miles cringed at the thought.  

“Would you believe he thinks Odysseus only appears clever and cunning because the other characters are fools and idiots?” asked Julian as they got on the ‘lift. “Ops.”

Miles had been forced to read _The Odyssey_ in school when he was fifteen and promptly forgot all about it once he could be assured it wouldn’t show up on any more exams. He honestly did not care one bit if Odysseus was clever or not, nor what Garak thought of the matter. If he was going to read ancient Earth literature (which he was not, but that was besides the point) he definitely wasn’t going to concern himself with what former and possibly current Obsidian Order agents thought about it.

He sighed. “Julian, Cardassians flirt by arguing.”

“Really? That certainly puts the fifth generation of _The Never Ending Sacrifice_ in a new light. Or were they the fourth?”

Miles thought, not for the first time, that Julian was the densest genius in the entire Bajoran sector. At length, Miles had decided he was a good man. Oblivious as they came, though.

“Never mind the books. Garak is flirting with you.”

Julian didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure?”

“Unfortunately. Gilora Rejal told me.”

“No qualifiers?”

“She didn’t mention any.”

“He has been giving me even duller and more convoluted books the last several months, then getting annoyed when I don’t appreciate... wait. He’s been flirting with me for _months_?”

If anyone could be flirted with for months and not realize, it would be Julian Bashir. Give him a medical problem and there was nobody better. Miles had seen him invent a new vaccine in a single afternoon, then the next day adapt it to a dozen other species simply because he had nothing better to do and it might be useful at some point. Give him interpersonal nuances and they all sailed right over his head, which was strange considering how often his head was in the clouds.

“Oh my God. I’ve been flirting back!”

Miles had been afraid of that.

“It would have been polite to clue me in,” said Julian. “For that matter, it would’ve been nice to make at least some effort to include my cultural standards.”

This was not what Miles wanted to hear. “What?”

“Well, it’s rather rude, when dealing with cross-cultural interactions, to completely ignore the other person’s traditions.”

“Uh, Julian, that sounds like you’re okay with Garak flirting with you.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? No, the problem here is stubborn Cardassian insistence that their way of doing everything is superior.”

Miles was about to point out that this issue alone sounded like a bad reason to encourage Garak (and, in case he’d forgotten, there was the Obsidian Order business) when Julian continued, “Unless he’s doing that hoping I’ll start an argument about it.”

“I really don’t think…”

“Thank you, Miles,” said Julian as the turbolift door opened. “I’m so glad you told me.”

“I’m not,” muttered Miles under his breath, but Julian had already bounded into Ops with an extra spring in his step. God help him, he was _excited_ to find out Garak was flirting.

When Commander Sisko asked why Miles was so glum, he made up a white lie about staying up late talking with Keiko and Molly over the comm, all the while regretting that he’d opened his big mouth.

This was going to be a disaster.

**Author's Note:**

> Contraindication: in medicine, a factor which makes a certain procedure inadvisable.


End file.
